Balkan Peninsula

“Why do you want to go to Albania for?”

An Italian friend sneered after I told him of my backpacking plans across the Balkan Peninsula, where the plan was to start from Albania and finish in Turkey (in 2009). Travelling time: however long it takes.

“You want to see Albanians? Just go to Italy…so many of them. Dangerous people. Thieves, some of them.”

The plan came to fruition when Tim, an English friend, proposed of a slow journey across the isolated fringes of Eastern Europe, when he knew that I was about to finish one of my ship contracts. I didn’t know anything about the country till then but I jumped on the invitation right away. The less I know, the better. Far-flung countries with strange names compel me most. How am I supposed to know how dangerous the place is if I haven’t experienced it myself? Besides, British Airways had a special deal going for less than £100 one-way from London to the capital city of Albania, Tirana. It sounded just like the perfect place to explore and to kick off the trip.

CIAO! I’M PICCOLA YING

My Italian friends thought I was so little that they called me Piccola Ying. I was raised in the dusty sunshine of Kuala Lumpur, left the safe shores of my home for the world at 18 and have never looked back since.

In between, I've created my own charmed kind of life where I'd relied on intuition, kindness of strangers and the magic of serendipity. I have backpacked, lived a jet set lifestyle and had worked on Italian cruise ships for 5 years. When I'm not wandering, I write.